The Romance Plan
by SNAFU Time
Summary: What happens when Mordecai and Eileen fake going out to make Rigby realize his true feeling for Eileen and to make Margaret notice Mordecai?


Getting Together

Mordecai's POV:

"Mordecai you're joking. I don't think your plan will work."

Eileen looks worried, but I know it'll work.

"Look Eileen, it'll be easy. We just pretend that we are going out to make Rigby and Margaret jealous." Confidence from the plan rings in my voice.

"I still don't know Mordecai, it still seems pretty far-fetched to me. Margaret and Rigby won't fall for it. They will know something is up."

"Trust me Eileen, everything will be fine. Anyways, it would be hard to back out now that already told Rigby to meet me at the Coffee Shop. We've been planning this for a while and anyways, what have we got to lose? Just act natural and work until I break the news to Rigby, then come over to where we are sitting, okay?"

"Okay Mordecai…wait, what about Margaret?"

"Oh, well since she usually serves us, she will probably be there when I break the news to Rigby." I look around to make sure no one is listening to us. We are talking in the kitchen in the house at the park and we have to be careful.

"Okay Mordecai, I got it. See you at the Coffee Shop." And with that, Eileen opens the door that leads outside and quietly sneaks out, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

"Yeah really, what have we got to lose?" I say thinking out loud "I mean it's not like Margaret has ever really noticed me and Rigby is just afraid of his feelings, so this plan has to work." I look into the distance to where Eileen is making a mad dash towards the bus, trying to catch it.

"Huh, I wonder why Rigby isn't into Eileen. She's nice and cute, in a nerdy sort of way, and is one of the only girls I have ever seen that was ever really into Rigby. If he's not careful, he'll lose her." I then laugh at a sudden realization. "Ha! I guess that is almost the exact type of scenario we are trying to set up, aren't we? Well… I guess I had better make my way to the Coffee Shop to break the news."

* * *

Rigby's POV:

"Uhh…where the heck is he?" I moan, tired of waiting for Mordecai.

"Hey Rigby, where's Mordecai?" Margaret asks, finally getting a break to come talk to him.

"I don't know! He told me to meet him here like half an hour ago and he still isn't here!"

"Huh, that's weird…" Margaret begins until she is interrupted by the door swinging open.

"Hey Eileen, what happened?"

Oh, hey Margaret. I missed the bus so I had to run in order to be here on time." Eileen notices me and her already red cheeks blush a little deeper.

"Hey Rigby." She offers, smiling.

"Hey." I offer back, looking away.

"Where's Mordecai?" she asks after hiding her disappointed face.

"I have no idea where Mordecai is! It's been like at least forty-five minutes and I'm still have no clue where he is…" I begin, when the door swings open to reveal the blue jay.

"There you are man! Where the heck have you been? I've been waiting…"

"I know man, I'm sorry. Benson caught me before I had a chance to leave the park, so I was stuck doing the dishes."

"Oh." I say my irritation subsiding a bit "Well anyways, what's the news? It better be good." Mordecai walks over and sits in his usual spot next to me. I notice Eileen out the corner of my eye with her back to us, eavesdropping.

"It is, believe me." His eyebrows raising convincingly.

"Okay, just tell me already, I've been waiting."

Mordecai takes a deep breath and sighs.

"Okay man, here it is… Me and Eileen are going out."

When he says that, I hear crashing in my ears.

"What?" I ask, looking over at Eileen for confirmation of what I just heard.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Margaret asks, coming back from the kitchen with our order, wondering why it got quiet all of a sudden. Eileen answered her.

"Me and Mordecai are going out." She says, her face a shade of beet red and averting her eyes, as if she is embarrassed or ashamed to have said it out loud.

"What? Oh my gosh guys this is totally unexpected…I always thought…"she cut herself off, looking at Mordecai, a smile plastered on her face for show.

"I know! It was totally unexpected for me too! When Mordecai asked me out it totally caught me off guard. It happened out of nowhere!" I notice she sneaks a peek over at me before looking back at Mordecai. She looks ecstatic while holding on to his wing. The roaring is still in my ears, blocking out almost everything. I look over at Margaret. Even through her amazing façade, I can still see the deep pain hitting her from behind her eyes.

The roaring in my ears has become unbearable. I have to get out of here. I have to be able to think. I jump off the stool and head towards the exit.

"Hey Rigby, where are you going?"

"I'm going back to the park. Benson will kill us if we don't get back soon." I manage to force through my jumble of thoughts.

"Well…okay Rigby see you there." Mordecai says.

I look back one last time before I leave. What I see sends a knife through me. Mordecai has his wing wrapped around Eileen and Eileen is hugging Mordecai around the waist. I loom over at Margaret who looks as if she just saw a puppy get ran over. She looks at me and I can see the pain most evident on her face. Her façade is breaking. I feel bad for leaving her when she can't leave, but I can't stay there for another second. I turn and start heading towards the park, the roaring in my head getting worse with each step.

* * *

Mordecai's POV:

"Well…I'm happy for you guys." Margaret says through a sad, forced smile.

"Thanks Margaret, I'll see you around." I say trying to act disinterested, but when in reality, that smile tore at my very being for being the cause of it. But I was also ecstatic. The plan had worked! I get up to leave.

"And I'll see you later for our date." I say to Eileen, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek. She is tomato red and the kiss just worsens the effect.

"Bye guys!" I say one last time before leaving Eileen to hold on her own without me. Wow, I accomplished what I didn't think was really possible; I got Margaret to notice me and got Rigby to confront his feelings about Eileen. Feeling pretty satisfied, I meander back towards the park to check on Rigby.

"Hey, Rigby! I thought you were going to start on the chores? Benson is so totally going to fire us."

There is no answer from the lump under the pile of clothes on the trampoline, but I know he's there because I can see it moving with every breath he takes.

"Come on Rigby, get up! It's like the middle of the day! We got to at least get some chores done!"

"Fine, I'm getting up." I watch as the raccoon as he pulls himself up out the wreckage that he calls his bed. Then he looks up at me and my skin freezes. He looks…well, I'm not sure how to describe it…dead. His eyes look like that of someone who has just died, not like those of a person who is still alive and has been crying their eyes out. His glazed eyes look like that of a person who has just retreated into themselves because they have nowhere left to go.

"Hey Rigby…are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine…and I didn't get a chance tell you this back at the Coffee Shop before I left…I'm happy for you and Eileen." The way he says this leaves me chilled. There is no emotion in his voice.

"Okay then…come on, let's get some chores done." I say casting a worried look at my friend as he brushes past me in the doorway.

As we are doing our chores, I watch him closely. Not once does he complain. He seems to be on autopilot. We get our chores done a lot quicker than usual.

"Hey Rigby, since we got our chores done so early, do you want to hit the arcade?"

"No, I think I'm going to go lay down again." He answers in the same monotone voice he has used all day. His eyes are guarded and he does not look at me.

"Well…okay man I'll see you later I guess."

I watch him as walks back to the house and I wait a couple of minutes before I follow him in. I know he is in our room because I can see the door is ajar. Instead of going inside though, I stand outside the door and listen. Rigby has always been one to talk to himself, I've caught him a couple of times, so I listen in on the conversation he is having with himself.

"I can't stand this roaring inside my ears, inside my head. It is going to drive me insane." There is a pause.

"I know I like Eileen and I know she likes me, but I know she also deserves someone better…someone like Mordecai…"

I am shocked to hear this. This is the most unselfish thing I have ever heard coming out of Rigby and yet he doesn't know that the most unselfish thing he has ever done is also the most selfish. I listen more, my head right against the door.

"Poor Margaret…she looked bad when I left the shop…I feel for her. She really thought Mordecai had liked her, and for that matter so had I. She told me she liked him. He told me he liked her. When did things change? Why couldn't I have been nicer to Eileen? No, I had to act horrible to her because I couldn't face myself…" Rigby sounds angry now.

I messed up. I messed up big time. I screwed up and now Rigby is…broken, Margaret is hurt, and Eileen hadn't even wanted to do my stupid plan in the first place. I have to fix this. I open the door.

"Rigby I have to tell you something."

Rigby, surprised at my entrance, jumps about five feet off the floor and scrambles towards the opposite wall from me.

"What the heck man, have you been listening?" Rigby screeches at me. I notice he has been crying, something I hadn't realized listening through the door. He makes a break for the door.

* * *

Rigby's POV:

Mordecai blocks my exit from the room so I try to wrestle around him with no avail.

"What do you want?" I yell at him.

"I need to talk to you, it's important!"

"No I'm sick of listening! Listen to me! First you were all over Margaret, then out of nowhere you begin going out with Eileen! I thought you realized I liked her even though I didn't tell you!"

I make my way to the door again, but once again he blocks my path.

"I did! I did realize you liked her, but you were always so mean to her that I thought you needed a push…"

"You call that a push? More like a fist to the face! I can't think! I'm so tired of this!"

"Wait Rigby! You said you cared about her, that you liked her! You said she deserves someone better than you, but she doesn't want anyone except you!"

"What?" I ask my temper cooling down almost at once.

"Rigby, she likes you, she likes you A LOT, so we came up with a plan. We would fake going out with each other to make you and Margaret jealous, but I didn't realize this would happen!"

I'm speechless. They set me up. I wish I was angry with Mordecai but instead I'm relieved. Everything is silent except the sounds of us panting from Mordecai trying to keep me from running away. He speaks first.

"Also, what the heck dude? Margaret told you she liked me and you didn't tell me?"

"She told me to keep it a secret."

"Since when have you ever kept a secret?"

"Easy since you told me you have a crush on Margaret. I was hoping you two would figure it out yourselves without me having to tell the both of you."

"Oh" say Mordecai dumbfounded "Well anyways, let's go get this mess worked out."

"Yeah, okay man; let's go talk to Margaret and Eileen."

As we are walking towards the Coffee Shop, Mordecai stops and pauses.

"Hey man, what's wrong?"

"I was just trying to imagine how hard it must have been for you to put your feelings in the backseat while you hoped Eileen would meet someone better."

"Well compare it to the same pain you feel when you can't express yourself to Margaret and you have to watch her go around with all her different boyfriends." I say with a smirk.

"Shut up dude."

I laugh a little.

When we are right outside the coffee shop, I notice something feels off. The atmosphere seems…intense.

"You ready dude?" Mordecai asks, all determination.

"Yeah dude." And with that we enter the Coffee Shop.

* * *

Eileen's POV:

Mordecai and Rigby walk in just as soon as I am finished explaining everything to Margaret. I couldn't do it; she looked so lifeless I had to tell her. There were so many emotions floating through her eyes that I couldn't name them all, but the one I saw the most was relief. I know she has to be furious at having her emotions played with but I think she'll be okay.

I look over at Mordecai and Rigby and almost die. They look like they got mauled by a plastic fan. Mordecai is missing some feathers and Rigby's fur is everywhere.

"Guys, what happened?"

"Hey, Eileen, I told Rigby everything." Mordecai answers, skipping my original question. I can feel my face burn.

"Sorry Mordecai…I also told Margaret everything too." Now it's his turn to blush.

"It's…It's okay." He says, stuttering a bit.

Everything is at a stalemate now. It is almost closing time and no one is in here except for us. Rigby speaks first.

"Eileen I…"

I run over to him and hug him as hard as I can. He's surprised and he almost falls over.

"Rigby…I'm so sorry…" I sob onto his shoulder "I like you and I…"but I can't control my sobs and I can get no more out. After a while, Rigby's shoulders relaxed under my embrace and he began to hold me as well. After a little longer, he pulls me away from him and looks into my eyes, his own highly guarded.

"I like you too." He says and then I begin sobbing again because I am so relieved. After a little more time and I when can breathe normally, I pull away from him and look around realizing something.

"Where are Mordecai and Margaret?"

"They left a little while ago to go deal with their own issues." He says smiling slightly at me. He leans over and gives me a light kiss on the cheek, feather-light.

"Don't worry, I know everything will be okay." He says and that is when I'm crying once again relieved and extremely happy.

* * *

Rigby's POV: (Bonus)

I hold Eileen as she is crying on my shoulder. It's nice to have my feelings out in the open, but strange. I'm not used to this and it takes every fiber of my being to keep from running away again. She doesn't realize it, but I'm crying also. I love her so much; I can't bear to hurt her anymore by running away. I hold her until she cries herself to sleep in my arms, right in the middle of the Coffee Shop.


End file.
